Building manager Sam Piccazo wades through water that was more than knee-deep at one point in his apartment building on the 2100 block of Folsom Street after runoff overwhelmed storm drains in the area.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Building manager Sam Piccazo wades through water that was more than...

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A bicyclist makes his way through water at the intersection of 18th and Dolores streets at the base of Dolores Park on Sunday, December 2, 2012. Water pouring down both streets and the hills of the park all converged at the intersection.

Photo: Jeff Elder, The Chronicle

A bicyclist makes his way through water at the intersection of 18th...

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Workers from Servicemaster Restoration Services pump out standing water from the garage of an apartment building on Folsom St. Business on the 2100 block of Folsom St. in San Francisco were flooded this morning by water that backed up through the sewage lines on Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Workers from Servicemaster Restoration Services pump out standing...

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Kevin Thompson walks through the sewage remenants on the floor of Art Mission Ink studios on Flosom St. that he manages. Business on the 2100 block of Folsom St. in San Francisco were flooded this morning by water that backed up through the city's sewage lines. Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Kevin Thompson walks through the sewage remenants on the floor of...

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Charlie Adams, 5, and his sister Alice, 7, wade through a pool of water left by the storm at Crissy Field.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Charlie Adams, 5, and his sister Alice, 7, wade through a pool of...

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This NOAA satellite image taken Sunday, Dec, 02, 2012 at 01:00 AM EST shows yet another storm moving into the Pacific Northwest and northern California bringing heavy rain, mountain snow and high winds. As this frontal system pushes inland it will bring similar conditions to the Intermountain West and Northern Rockies.(AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

Photo: Associated Press

This NOAA satellite image taken Sunday, Dec, 02, 2012 at 01:00 AM...

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A man works to clear a drain at the intersection of 18th and Dolores streets on Sunday, December 2, 2012. Days of heavy rains have brought sporadic urban flooding to San Francisco.

Photo: Jeff Elder, The Chronicle

A man works to clear a drain at the intersection of 18th and...

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During a sunny break in the middle of the day, runners at Crissy Field try their best to avoid large puddles left by heavy morning rain. A series of storms passed through the Bay Area on Sunday December 2nd, 2012, dumping rain accompanied by high winds.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

During a sunny break in the middle of the day, runners at Crissy...

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A large puddle forms at Gough and Golden Gate in San Francisco. As much as 4 inches of rain fell in the region.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

A large puddle forms at Gough and Golden Gate in San Francisco. As...

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A runner at Crissy Field taking advantage of a sunny break in the storm in the middle of the day avoids a large puddle.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

A runner at Crissy Field taking advantage of a sunny break in the...

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At Veterans Memorial Park, people ignored flood signs and gates to get a view of the rising Napa River under sunny skies. The third of the big storms to hit the Bay Area this weekend dropped a lot of rain but thankfully failed to flood the major rivers including the Napa river Sunday December 2, 2012.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

At Veterans Memorial Park, people ignored flood signs and gates to...

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Workers from Servicemaster Restoration Services pump out standing water in the kitchen area of Stable Cafe on Folsom St. Business on the 2100 block of Folsom St. in San Francisco were flooded this morning by water that backed up through the sewage lines. Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Workers from Servicemaster Restoration Services pump out standing...

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Building manager Sam Piccazo stands in front of his building where sand bags were put in place to block some of the flooding that inundated buildings on Folsom St. Business on the 2100 block of Folsom St. in San Francisco were flooded this morning by water that backed up through the sewage lines. Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Building manager Sam Piccazo stands in front of his building where...

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A truck splashes along High St. near the 880 freeway in Oakland, which was partially under water after heavy rains during the morning of Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

A truck splashes along High St. near the 880 freeway in Oakland,...

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A small herd of horses stand by as a new creek flows through their pasture near Highway 121 in Sonoma County.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

A small herd of horses stand by as a new creek flows through their...

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Water sqirts out of a pipe on the side of a building on High St. in Oakland. High St. near the 880 freeway in Oakland is seen partially under water after heavy rains during the morning of Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Water sqirts out of a pipe on the side of a building on High St. in...

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Pablo Torrez of Oakland hangs on to a fence as he tries to get around a large puddle on High St. High St. near the 880 freeway in Oakland is seen partially under water after heavy rains during the morning of Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Pablo Torrez of Oakland hangs on to a fence as he tries to get...

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Cars splash along High St. near the 880 freeway in Oakland, which was partially under water after heavy rains during the morning of Sunday December 2nd, 2012.

A vehicle transits a flooded underpass in San Rafael, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, as utility workers work to repair a downed power line. Although sunny skies reappeared throughout the region Sunday afternoon, flood warnings remain for several rivers. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Photo: Noah Berger, Associated Press

A vehicle transits a flooded underpass in San Rafael, Calif., on...

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A traffic control vehicle transits a flooded underpass in San Rafael, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. Days of heavy rains have left the region saturated and several rivers are expected to flood their banks Sunday afternoon. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Photo: Noah Berger, Associated Press

A traffic control vehicle transits a flooded underpass in San...

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Utility crews work in the wind and rain to repair a power pole that was damaged by the overnight storm along Hall Road in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. The National Weather Service issued flood warnings yesterday for both the Napa and Russian rivers. (AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Kent Porter)

Photo: Kent Porter, Associated Press

Utility crews work in the wind and rain to repair a power pole that...

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A man and woman walk along a vista point looking toward the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco from the Marin Headlands in Marin County, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The National Weather Service says that by late morning Thursday 1 inch of rain had fallen in several hours across the western side of the county. Much of Northern California is under a variety of warnings and advisories for rain, snow and high winds. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press

A man and woman walk along a vista point looking toward the Golden...

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A San Francisco Public Works crew removes a fallen tree along Grove Street near Divisadero after it fell across a car in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday Nov. 30, 2012, as another heavy rain storm moves through the Bay Area.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

A San Francisco Public Works crew removes a fallen tree along Grove...

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A crew from Vaccaro Tree Service removes a fallen tree along Hickory Road in Fairfax, Calif., Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. Weather officials are issuing flood warnings for much of Northern California as the second in a series of wet storms hits the state. The National Weather Service has issued a variety of warnings for heavy rain, snow, high winds and floods from the San Francisco Bay area to the Oregon border. (AP Photo/Marin Independent Journal, Robert Tong)

Photo: Robert Tong, Associated Press

A crew from Vaccaro Tree Service removes a fallen tree along...

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A crew from Vaccaro Tree Service removes a fallen tree along Hickory Road in Fairfax, Calif., Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. Weather officials are issuing flood warnings for much of Northern California as the second in a series of wet storms hits the state. The National Weather Service has issued a variety of warnings for heavy rain, snow, high winds and floods from the San Francisco Bay area to the Oregon border. (AP Photo/Marin Independent Journal, Robert Tong)

It wasn't the soul-drenching disaster some had feared - but the combined storm wallop that finally finished rolling through the Bay Area on Sunday was no mild romp, either.

The latest weather system, which hit Saturday night and ended around noon the next day, dumped as much as 4 inches of rain on the region, triggering messy traffic accidents and knocking out power to tens of thousands of people.

At least one manhole was so overwhelmed by storm runoff in San Francisco that its cover exploded into the air atop an 8-foot geyser, and nearly a dozen cars in the city were crumpled by downed trees or limbs.

In all, the three storms that cycled in one after the other, beginning on Wednesday, dropped a whopping 15.7 inches of rain in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 3.4 inches in Oakland and 3.8 inches in San Francisco.

Winds hit as hard as 60 miles an hour at times - so powerful they toppled a big rig on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge early Sunday morning. Three firefighters and a driver were seriously hurt in one Moraga-area, rain-triggered crash Sunday, and one woman died in another just before that in Daly City.

"We were pretty busy, and this storm caused a lot of spinouts and trouble everywhere," said California Highway Patrol Officer James Evans. "I think a lot of people were driving foolishly and too fast for the rain."

Winds and rain knocked down electrical lines and triggered power outages throughout the Bay Area. By Sunday evening, about 7,400 customers were still without power, including about 90 in San Francisco and 1,900 in the East Bay, according to PG&E.

In all, 315,200 customers throughout PG&E's Bay Area service area lost power between Thursday and Sunday, the utility reported.

Conditions were so bad that 183 flights in or out of San Francisco International Airport were canceled between Friday and Sunday, according to airport officials and FlightAware.com.

Rivers contained

None of the area's major rivers, including the Napa and the Russian, leaped their banks as had been feared, and National Weather Service forecasters attributed that largely to the significant breaks between the three weather fronts as they blew in.

The waterways did come within a few feet of spilling - the Napa crested to 3.5 feet below flood level Sunday. By evening, though, the service's flood warnings had been canceled for all the area's major waterways and blue skies prevailed.

"We were expecting some high winds and between 7 and 8 inches of rain, and we got that and more," said National Weather Service forecaster Diane Henderson. "It was blustery and wet."

Rain is expected to return on Tuesday or Wednesday, but it will be a spattering compared with last week, Henderson said.

Even though the rivers didn't swamp houses, there was plenty of fingernail-biting in Wine Country where most rainstorms hurt worst.

Sunday morning found Highway 121, the main throughway between Napa and Sonoma counties, flooded and closed. Businesses from Guerneville to Napa sandbagged their doorways, and water puddled enough to slow traffic to a crawl.

But by noon, sunshine reigned and the only indication that a storm had struck was sights like the fast-moving muddy mess that was the Napa River. Spectators cut past barricades with yellow "Flooded" signs to lazily watch it pulse through their city.

"It was supposed to be raining all day," she said, as the sun crept through the windows around lunchtime. "But it's OK. I like the sun better."

Muni Metro disruption

In San Francisco, Muni's Metro service was disrupted about 8:40 a.m. when the storm flooded the tracks at the Church Street station, said spokesman Paul Rose, but service was back to normal by the afternoon.

There were more than 50 reports of localized flooding around the city, mostly in usually vulnerable areas such as the Great Highway, said Rachel Gordon, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works. One of the more notable locations was the intersection of 18th and Dolores streets, where an impromptu knee-high lake developed.

About 40 trees and big limbs were reported knocked down by the storm in the city, and though 10 cars were hit by tree limbs there were no reports of injuries.

"It got messy, especially early this morning, but from my understanding it's not as bad as the North Bay was hit," said Gordon. "We had ample warning, and we had people working overnight."

Floodwaters buried the courtyard of the Stable Cafe on Folsom Street near 17th Street, forcing its shutdown Sunday, and co-owner Thomas Lackey said he didn't know when he'd be able to reopen.

Lackey said the rain flow was so bad in his area that at 8:15 a.m. a manhole cover blew off the street near his doorway, and a geyser of water 8 feet high shot out of the combined sewer-storm drain for 15 minutes.

"Ground zero for flooding"

"They call my courtyard ground zero for flooding around here," Lackey said. "This storm I had 18 inches in my courtyard, in April it was over 2 feet, and it contains sewage coming in from the streets and city drain lines. I wish the city would come up with a way of keeping it out of my business."

The freeways were a mess.

Traffic was stopped Sunday around 9:25 a.m. on eastbound Highway 24 a little past the eastern end of the Caldecott Tunnel by a crash involving a fire engine and three other vehicles, including an SUV that wound up on its roof.

Three firefighters from the Moraga-Orinda Fire District had stopped to tend to a noninjury car crash when a second car skidded into their engine in the rain, according to a statement by the district. Then, while the firefighters were interviewing the second car's driver, the SUV rolled into them and the driver, injuring them all.

The injured were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, including broken bones and cuts. All eastbound lanes were reopened by 11 a.m.